Of Spring, and Wet Dogs
by inkcyan
Summary: Shikamaru thinks that while he likes spring, he really, really, really hates spring rain. Not that he had anything against rainbut damn, after one of those spring showers, Akamaru smelled. Not to mention Kiba. [ShikaKibaAkamaru friends! fic P:]


Ahh. Spring. The sky was a clear blue in Konoha, only marred by the fluffy white clouds. The birds were chirping, the little woodland animals doing whatever it was that they did, and the dew glistened on the blades of green grass. All was calm after another bout of rain. Spring rain—what a truly wonderful thing it was, Shikamaru thought as he lay on his back on his favorite cloud watching hill.

…Not.

No, it wasn't that Shikamaru had anything against rain, personally—after all, watching the rain was a favorite pastime of his, and besides, all organisms needed water or whatever to survive and stuff—but damn, Akamaru_ smelled_ after it rained. And since he had gotten so big, it was only reasonable that the smell would be, well…a lot _bigger_. And it wasn't _only_ Akamaru that smelled—Kiba smelled just as strongly, if not stronger. Of rain, and mud, and mustiness, and grass—all in one. Really, it wouldn't have been any business whether or not Kiba and Akamaru smelled—but the aforementioned two were sprawled out on the grass besides him, which made all the difference.

Which was just strange. Or would have been strange around two weeks ago, when Shikamaru and Kiba really weren't close friends, hadn't talked to each other much, didn't hang out together much. And stuff.

And it was completely Akamaru's fault that the aforementioned lazy genius, the 'dog boy', as many called him, and the dog himself were lying on Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching hill.

* * *

"Oy!" Shikamaru turned, surprised, as Akamaru's huge body bounded up his cloud watching hill and settled next to him. He groaned, exasperated, as Akamaru's large and furry head neared his own, and a wet pink tongue came out to lick him all over the face.

"Damn troublesome dog. Aren't you supposed to be with Kiba?" Akamaru simply yipped happily in reply, huge tail thumping the ground excitedly. He turned to Shikamaru, an imploring look in his widening doggy eyes, almost looking as if he were _pouting_.

Shikamaru groaned again. Stupid guilt trip.

"Fine, fine. Stay if you want, I don't care."

The dog barked once in satisfaction, then practically sat _on_ Shikamaru, huge paws on Shikamaru's stomach.

He sighed.

By and by, as expected, Kiba came around—having sniffed out Akamaru's location.

"AKAMARU, WHERE'VE YOU BEEN?!" The 'dog-boy's loud, obnoxious voice drifted from the bottom of the hill as he cupped his hands around his mouth to further project his voice. He clambered up the hill quickly, all energy and tousled brown hair and an annoyed expression on his face.

"There you are, ol' boy! You friggin' LEFT ME on the training grounds to watch the clouds with SHIKAMARU?!?!"

Akamaru barked, twice.

"WHAT?! I don't CARE if you wanted to watch the clouds or whatever Akamaru! You can't be lazy!"

The dog barked again, a series of barks that almost burst Shikamaru's ear drums. 'the hell? He was in the middle of a fight between a person and his _dog_.

"Damnit, Akamaru! Geez." Kiba snorted once more, a grin slowly appearing on his face. "Fine, just this once." He promptly sat down next to Akamaru and draped an arm over the huge dog, burying his face in the white fur.

"So…uhhh…How's life?" Kiba asked after a couple minutes of silence, fidgeting.

"Troublesome."

"…do you wanna die?"

"No, geez."

"I kinda miss Naruto."

"Yeahhh…so do I. He's troublesome, but a good friend."

Kiba turned to Shikamaru, eyes suddenly solemn.

"You're a good friend too, y'know. Even though we aren't that close."

"Yeah, yeah. Same applies to you. Now shaddap and watch the sunset."

They sat there in silence for a long time after that, watching the sun dip below the horizon as the sky turned a wide range of colors, blues and greens and purples, pinks and oranges, and Shikamaru wondered why he didn't feel as annoyed as he should've that Kiba and Akamaru were currently next to him, snoring on the green grass of his cloud watching hill.

* * *

And that basically summed up why Kiba and Akamaru were once again occupying the space next to Shikamaru on the hill. After that first time, Akamaru would yip happily and join Shikamaru in watching the clouds after training, and after a couple days of that, Kiba stopped bothering to _try_ to convince Akamaru to leave.

And after a week, started coming with Akamaru every day after training to watch the clouds and the sunset with Shikamaru. The spring sunset was pretty damn awesome looking, even Kiba had to admit.

Shikamaru had stopped caring after the first day. Quite frankly, it was too troublesome to tell them to leave. And quite frankly…he didn't mind the company. Kiba wasn't a bad guy, and while most of their time on the hill was spent in silence, they occasionally had conversations. And stuff.

It was spring, after all, and spring meant new starts, right?

New starts, new friendships, new discoveries—all those _new_ valuable things that meant so much in life.

And Shikamaru had never liked spring more, even if it meant spring rain, and Akamaru and Kiba smelling like…well…_wet dogs_.

-end!-

* * *

Okay. I know this was short. And crappy. REVIEW ANYWAYS. Yeah? P Wrote this fast, so it's a half drabble, half fic. But WHATEVER. Was for a guild competition thingy with the theme of spring. So yeah. And personally, I love spring rain. 8D 


End file.
